Skeptical musings from Adelaide

The pungent aroma from the incense burners are slowly filling the room as Master Woo prepares this weeks reading. The oil lamps burn dimly, shadows flickering and dancing on the woven cloth walls. Two low chairs sit hunched over a low table, covered with a gilded woven cloth. Master Woo prepares the cards, slowly shuffling them and concentrating on the question. “Ten plus random tales and the desire for a coherant story, skillfully linking them together”. This surely is a test on the Tarot! 78 cards, 10 of which will be chosen using the Celtic Cross spread, itself comprising of 10 locations, each with their own chapter in the answer that will be soon revealed. Firstly, the spirits will need to be considered, will they be willing to help without leaving the inquirer a gibbering wreck?

“This covers him”

The first card is drawn, the substance of the question, the present. We have the Page of Wands, symbolising a lively and intelligent child. This card can represent many phone calls and invitations…such as when you have a sick child. I see health issues with children and TheExtras brings us Shotgun Therapies, an article on aspects of childrens health. Furthermore a shotgun approach is pretty much how this entire reading will probably go.

“This crosses him”

The second card will present obstacles to the question. And a dilema we surely have, how to choose the cards to match the stories the stories to match the cards. If only we could be like a god, all-knowing, all-powerful or all-good. The card is turned, the 2 of cups is revealed. Depicting love , harmony and partnership and the balance of male and female. Such concepts surely remind us of the needless waste of time the dilema a god would have if given the choice of just two of these super powers. From Greta Christina we have a piece about this exact dilema.

“If there were a religion in which God were any two of the following — all- powerful, all- knowing, or all- good — what would that religion look like?…Which brings me to my actual point: Most religious believers don’t act as if they believe their God is all these things.”

“This crowns him”

The 3rd card is turned and the Pope appears. Unfortunately the card is reversed and the spirit of rebellion is about to enter. It would appear the many have been using the Lords name in vain and he’s already issued warnings warnings about this stuff. However the Skepbitch and “Thank Fuck it’s Friday” brings us up to speed on the use of the word “God” in common phrases. Things could be worse, we could mention the name of “he who must not be named”. For those who saw me wearing a Cthulu tee at TAM6 they can now be purchased here.

“This is beneath him”

The 4th card represents the recent past and drawing the next card we have the Chariot. You have put in a lot of hard work and you about to be rewarded. Taking up the challenge we find Hyphoid Logic reporting on a story on the negative energy of skeptics making the world better , or not if you live outside the reality based world. It would appear that us skeptics still carry with us much negaitive energy that can easily quash any psychic energy. Without any props like cards or goats entrails we are the endless suppliers of negative energy.

“This is behind him”

Now the fact that this description for the 5th card doesn’t match the image above should be of no concern at all. No siree, since when has consistancy been a strong point of Master Woo? The ten of wands appears, a card concerned with hard work. In fact, concerns may be raised about whether it’s even possible to achieve ones goals! And talking about hard work and the likely failure (of digestion) leads us to a story from Skeptico about on wheatgrass, the stuff cows eat and turn into crap and humans can’t.

“This is before here”

Fresh influences, new people and future events is represented by the 6th card of the Celtic Cross. The Queen of Swords is turned, an intelligent and perceptive woman who is rational and logical. She is also covered in dark fur, chases laser pointers and reads science fiction. (Hey, the cards from EBay didn’t arrive in time so some of this may be made up.) PodBlack Cat brings us magical moving pictures of her Puss-in-Boots travels to the mysterious east. a.k.a Brisbane, Australia.

“Yourself”

The 7th card of this spread represents the present state of mind. (Ed: Errr?, slowly getting drunk?) The five of wands is revealed,reversed. A sign of litigation? Well, that doesn’t fit in with the link/answer I already have make sense so reading a bit further we have this represents an inner turmoil or inability to reach a conclusion. Reduce to Common Sense brings us a questioning of Five portions a Day. Why not six or seven? Is there something magical about five. Perhaps not. OMG, what should be all be eating? It’s all too confusing.

“The House”

This card will represnt the inquirers surroundings so let’s see what happens.The Sun. Happiness and vitality are about to enter our (pool) life. Ah yes, and what do we find in houses, especially the bathroom but razors! Slicing with Occam’s Razor brings us an article on a rather dubious pond treatment, in an apparent attempt to deal with too much sunlight making your pool have more things living in it than one would desire.

“Hopes and Fears”

The ninth card will bring us guidance on our hopes fears and expectations regarding the question. Considering we have now made it to completing 9 out of 10 links things are generally looking up! Flipping the next card off the deck brings us the six of Pentacles although it is reversed, indicating financial loss. To quote my guide, “this could be through stupidity…”. With this in mind Redonkulous Redundancy has some interesting information on the cost of CAM. It would seem that many people are throwing away perfectly good money on BS, suprise, suprise. If those people had only used the Tarot they could have protected themselves from such a blantantly obvious subtle scam.

“What will come”

The tenth card, The Devil, reversed. This card can symbolise the abuse of power, money or personal charm. Of all the woo in the world CAM is probably the one that is symbolised by this card. We can handle the Bigfoot believers, UFO nuts and other assorted cranks with a happy smile. However the one area where the worst of human endevour grows like a putrid mold is CAM. Happy Jihad’s House of Pancakes brings us a piece on his contributing to the Wiki4CAM wiki. However in the days following his post I see the woo merchants have simply piled on the crap. So how will people know what’s true or not? “What will come” probably refers to the unending shyte we see from CAM.

Holford Watch has a nice long article on the Q-Link and other woo. Modern snake oil, more of what’s coming. More stupid ideas about physics is highlighted on Science after Sunclipse. Journals run the adds and the book is full of woo. Is this more of what will come, the blending of psuedoscience and the reality based world.

As the smoke slowly clears or not if you live in Beijing from the cards, we bring to a conclusion this weeks reading. Master Woo is quite sure all that has been revealed will be found to be true. One more card is turned to determine the fate of the 93rd Skeptics Circle. Ooooh, what a coincidence, just like the others. ;-)

For the archive of previous Skeptics Cirlce’s see here. The next Skeptics Circle will be hosted by